Page 54 of Maddox

Just like the one I’d found myself embroiled in. Gray was a straight shooter and always had been, yet he’d supplied enough details for me to get the job done while carefully crafting a story.

Maybe he’d been told she had information that could incriminate Alfaro. Or maybe she’d been a goddamn lure. That I wasn’t sure of.

The jump drive Charmaine had provided was likely important information in the capture and arrest of Alfaro. However, during my military career, I’d learned things weren’t often as they seemed. She’d had no way of discovering what was on the drive and I hadn’t arrived with the thought of requiring equipment to decipher clues.

Discovery would need to wait until we’d returned to the States.

That didn’t sit well with me.

Our lives were on the line because of whatever data an unknown informant had provided.

I pulled a beer from the fridge, heading onto the balcony. I’d contact Gray in the morning. If there was any way to get out of this godforsaken country sooner, I’d encourage him to make that happen.

Staying with her in close quarters wasn’t good for either of us.

As I sat down on the metal chair, I rubbed my shoulder where the bullet had grazed it. I’d been shot, had it dislocated, and had the blade of a knife stuck between two muscles. At this point, I was impervious to pain.

That didn’t mean rain and dampness didn’t bother me, enough so the ache was raw, worse than usual.

I studied my phone. I should have used a burner, but there’d been no time to coordinate every detail as I would normally do. At least the signal would be scrambled, no insurgents or anyone else capable of using it to locate our position. Old habits died hard. With the screen lit, I realized the date.

Eight years ago, all hell had broken loose, several in my unit losing their lives. Some from fire. Some from gunshot wounds. Others from stepping on explosives. I’d been lucky and had lived.

So had my two best friends, two men I would have died to save.

As I’d pledged an oath to do with everyone else.

The mission had seemed simple, the intel coming from a source we’d used before and could trust.

But everyone has a price.

Everyone.

Man. Woman. Soldier.

The idea of feeding our families outweighed betrayal even if that led to several murders.

But I’d been the fool. I’d gotten too comfortable. Perhaps we all had.

After facial recognition, the screen was unlocked and I sorted through to the few photographs I had saved. They’d been transferred over on the cloud even though I hadn’t wanted them. Another reminder was the last thing I needed.

A fucking operation gone bad.

Lives lost.

Others injured so severely they’d never fully recover.

And friendships lost.

Yet here they were on the day of the anniversary. Even what Alfaro had done to me paled in comparison to the horrors inflicted that day.

Hesitating, I took a few seconds before swiping my thumb across the screen until I found the camera roll. After taking a swig of my beer, I shifted to the several during better times.

We were much younger, still eager to take on the world.

Hell, I hadn’t had gray hair then and had been thinner by at least twenty pounds. In my mind, we all looked like young bucks. Too stupid and too well trained to get out.

Stone’s goofy look as he stared at the camera made me laugh. Kage had always been the serious one, but he’d turned much darker after everything we’d been through.

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